Internet rolls into Bangladesh villages on a bike

[As the masses are able to access the internet, it means that state and corporate monopolies on information breakdown. Marx long ago observed that those very forces that capitalism requires to exist end up bringing about its own downfall. For example, the capitalist mode of production requires a greater socialization of production that early modes of production. Yet this socialization brings workers together, exposes them to education, to technology and scientific technique, etc. All of this aids in the formation of class consciousness. It also brings about the conditions that will socialism requires. Similarly, capitalism in its quest for profits has spread the internet all over the world in order to open up new markets. Yet at the same time, the spread of the internet means that more information becomes available to more people. The population had access to more education. Thus capitalism inadvertently aids the revolution. Imagine taking the internet to villages, but exposing the masses to Leading Light material. This is the future of agitprop. We need your help to make this vision a reality. Please consider donating. Donating is the duty of every communist. — New Power]

Internet rolls into Bangladesh villages on a bike

By FARID HOSSAIN

(AP)

JHARABARSHA, Bangladesh (AP) — Amina Begum had never seen a computer until a few years ago, but now she’s on Skype regularly with her husband. A woman on a bicycle brings the Internet to her.

Dozens of women called “Info Ladies” bike into remote Bangladeshi villages with laptops and Internet connections, helping tens of thousands of people get everything from government services to chats with distant loved ones. They’ve expanded access to vital services in a country where only 5 million of 152 million people have Internet access.

They charge a fee for some services such as Skype, though others are provided free. The project organizer intends to enlist thousands more workers in the next few years with startup funds from the South Asian country’s central bank and expatriates working around the world.